'Wait, I'm Supposed to Become a Goddess?! But I'm a Guy!'

For the next few hours, Klein pressed deeper into the forest, the shadows enveloped the forest floor, dampening with every step.

With the old man's guidance , he avoided danger after danger, monsters lurking in the undergrowth, slithering behind trees, or prowling just out of sight.

"What the hell? Why are there so many of these snakes?"

Without that help, he would've been torn apart several times over by now.

“The beasts here…” the old voice drifted out from the ring.

“They’re far stronger than humans of the same realm.”

"Not even a 1 Vs 1 would be enough to take one of these monsters down"

Klein didn't reply at once.

He was busy, leaping from one massive branch to another, crouching on the tangled ridges of giant roots, then swinging off thick, twisted vines that snaked around the trunks like muscle fibers grown wild.

His movements were fluid, clearly used to navigating terrain that tried to kill him.

“No kidding,” he finally muttered as he kicked off from a vine and landed on a sturdy root with a grunt.

“That thing we dodged just now was infinitely close to tier 4"

"I’m barely scratching the surface of tier 3, and you expect me to survive a top-tier monster in here? You really want me dead.”

“And that’s exactly why you should be grateful, you little brat,” the illusory figure snapped, floating lazily just above the ring with his arms folded, as if lounging in midair.

“If I weren’t here, you wouldn’t have made it ten steps.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks, old man.”

“Ungrateful brat.”

“Dusty old fart.”

Their banter pinged back and forth, the kind only people who had survived death together could throw around without meaning a word of it.

It echoed faintly between the trees as Klein continued forward, until something shifted in the distance.

A subtle brightness, considering the heavy canopy, began to filter through the trees.

Klein squinted. “Light?”

He didn’t hesitate.

Accelerating forward, dodging past low branches, he pushed through the thinning treeline, and abruptly stopped.

“What…?” His voice caught in his throat, his eyes widening in surprise.

The forest ended. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Beyond it lay a massive, emerald lake.

The water shimmered beneath a slanting beam of sunlight, casting a glowing green reflection like polished jade.

It stretched out across the land like a mirror of glass, so still it could’ve been painted there by hand.

Surrounding it, a wide ring of short grass rippled gently in the breeze, dotted with soft wildflowers.

“Ohh… A lake?” The illusory figure floated beside him, momentarily forgetting his usual sarcasm.

Klein took a few cautious steps forward.

The change in scenery was jarring.

After hours in a dark, twisted forest full of monsters, this place felt too calm.

Too perfect.

And that unsettled him no matter how he thought about it.

Imagine entering a haunted house and you stumbled upon a cute girl that suddenly wanted to be your girlfriend?

Oh yeah, out of topic.

“In a place crawling with monsters, this is the last thing I expected,” he muttered, slowing his pace as he stepped onto the grass.

The wind brushed past, stirring his robe slightly.

His face was ordinary enough, young, sharp-eyed, but right now, there was wariness in his expression.

Protagonist 101 default appearance.

“Something’s off,” the illusory figure said, floating ahead with one hand to his chin.

“My divine sense can’t pierce through the water. It looks normal, but don’t get lulled. It’s not.”

"There's no formations or runes, it seems the water itself possessed the natural attributes that banned divine senses. Interesting"

Klein huffed and pushed his hood back, revealing a mess of black hair tousled by the wind. “If you’re not telling me to run away, then you’re betting there’s something good down there.”

“You catch on fast,” the old man said, smirking. “But no, it’s not quite a treasure I’m sensing…”

He suddenly snapped his fingers and formed several glowing seals midair.

They dissolved into the surroundings with a faint shimmer, and then nothing.

“...As expected,” Klein said flatly, watching the spell fizzle out without effect.

“It’s not reacting the way it should. Not a treasure. Not danger either. More like… good fortune?” The old man floated backward, brows drawn together.

“It’s hard to explain. Just a kind of… favorable omen.”

Klein said nothing, but the words made him tense.

He reached behind his waist, fingers brushing over the hilt of his dagger, then released it.

Luck omens didn’t mean safety.

Magic and spells couldn’t tell you everything.

Sometimes, you had to gamble.

They stopped at the lake’s edge.

The water lapped gently against a mix of rocks and soft sand, though from a distance, the shoreline had been completely hidden beneath that emerald hue.

“Alright, where’s the luck, old man? Don’t tell me I’ve got to swim for it.” Klein scowled, giving the lake a suspicious glance.

“You know how much I hate open water.”

“You’re just scared something’s going to pop up with too many teeth and not enough eyes,” the old man snorted.

“But hey, fortune favors the bold. Since I can’t sense what’s in there, it could be a blessing meant just for you.”

Klein raised a brow. “And if it’s not?”

The illusory figure raised both arms in a helpless shrug. “Then I’ll bail you out. Probably. Besides, when even someone like me can’t see through it, that usually means the opportunity is extraordinary.”

Klein sighed. A long, dragging, reluctant sigh.

"Swim?"

"If not?"

"How about you go in first and check?"

"I am waterphobic"

"I-is that even a word?"

"I just made it up"

"..."

But in the end, he gave in.

Swimming in unknown water? He hated it.

Still, the old man had taught him a spell, something that wrapped his clothes in a thin, transparent layer that clung like a second skin.

It preserved his movement underwater, almost like he was still on land.

He’d only seen the spell once and memorized it instantly.

Some things came naturally.

He took a breath. “Here we go.”

With a swift step, he entered the lake.

The water swallowed him slowly, first to the knees, then to the waist, and eventually he kicked off the shallows, body angling down into the depths.

The surface gave one last ripple as he vanished beneath it.

His eyes glowed faintly with the spell’s light, and the old man followed beside him like a ghost.

Swoosh. Swoosh.

His arms cut through the water in smooth motions.

But as he looked down into the dark green abyss, his spine stiffened. Beneath him… there was nothing.

Just darkness.

A gaping emptiness.

A cold shiver crawled up his back. “How deep is this thing… ten kilometers?”

He swore under his breath and pressed forward, angling deeper.

The light from above thinned quickly, and the shadows closed in.

Even with a vision spell that let him see through darkness, it barely made a difference.

He could see maybe two hundred meters ahead, beyond that, the water became an impenetrable wall of green-black void.

From time to time, he saw some strange fishes here. But no the kind that could threaten him yet.

If there were, he would've bolted out already.

Still, he kept going.

“Old man,” Klein called out after a while, voice tight, “we’ve gone almost a hundred meters already, If you weren’t floating around beside me, I’d have turned around a long time ago.”

“Stop whining like a wet kitten,” the old man said, irritated. “Just a bit more. We’re close now, i can feel it.”

Klein clenched his jaw and pushed forward.

He hated this. The stillness. The darkness. The way everything around him felt too vast and too quiet.

But something was waiting down there.

Nonetheless, he swam deeper anyway.

Klein kept swimming, each stroke growing heavier, each breath drawn through clenched teeth.

The water felt colder the deeper he went, thick like syrup around his limbs.

His robe, protected by that strange transparent film, clung tightly but moved with him like a second skin.

The only light came from the faint glimmer of his eyes, glowing faintly.

Above, the lake’s surface was long gone, swallowed by layers of pressure and weight.

Everything below him was just shadow, darkness layered atop deeper darkness.

And then.

Whoosh...

A sudden ripple surged through the water ahead. Just a faint pulse at first, like something shifting far in the distance.

Then another, closer, heavier. The water trembled.

Klein froze mid-stroke.

“What the hell was that?” His voice was muffled, eyes darting forward as another faint pulse moved through the abyss.

The illusory figure stopped as well, his form shimmering dimly beside Klein like a ghost underwater.

Arms still crossed, but his face had tensed.

“I don’t know,” he said slowly, brows furrowed, “Divine sense still doesn’t work. Whatever that was, it wasn’t natural flow.”

“Yeah, no sh*t!” Klein whispered harshly.

“You think it’s a fish? A friendly oversized goldfish maybe?”

The old man didn’t answer.

He turned his head, scanning with his limited senses, but the silence in the water was unnerving.

It was the kind that pressed against your eardrums and made your heartbeat feel like thunder.

Klein instinctively moved closer to the old man.

“You sure we should keep going?” he asked under his breath. “Feels like swimming straight into a monster’s gullet.”

“If it wanted to eat you, it would’ve already done it.” The old man gave him a side-eye.

“Calm down, brat. You’ll spook yourself into a heart attack at this rate.”

“You’re not the one doing the swimming!” Klein gritted his teeth and kicked forward.

“I’m practically flailing in a damned abyss, old man! At least let me freak out a little.”

The figure chuckled softly, drifting ahead. “Alright, alright. Look, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be scared. I’m just saying... we’ve come this far. Whatever’s here, it’s either a danger or a turning point. Either way, it’s worth knowing.”

“Turning point, huh?” Klein muttered. “Could be my turning point into a corpse.”

Still, despite the fear coiled in his stomach, he followed.

The two pressed forward again, gliding through the silence.

After several more tense minutes, the pressure around them thickened even further, and suddenly, the water changed.

The water at the bottom didn’t feel the same.

It was darker, not in light, but in essence.

And the moment they hit that depth, Klein slowed down, eyes widening.

Ahead, a massive black hole punctured the lakebed, its edges rough and fractured, as if something broke out or forced in.

It wasn’t a natural crevice, this thing was deliberate, or violent.

“...Holy sh*t,” Klein whispered.

The hole stretched at least a kilometer across, maybe more.

Its circular edge was fringed with glowing moss or something similar, a dim greenish hue that barely lit the rim.

But the inside?

Pitch-black.

Not even his vision spell could pierce more than a few dozen meters in.

“Don’t tell me this is normal,” Klein said, voice low.

The illusory figure floated to the edge, squinting into the void. “Definitely not normal.”

Klein swam up beside him, arms slightly trembling from the cold and exertion. “You ever seen anything like this?”

“...Once,” the figure admitted, hesitating. “But it didn’t look this deep. Something about this place feels wrong. Not evil... just… old.”

"Like an entrance"

Klein frowned. “And dangerous?”

The old man didn’t answer right away.

“Well? Don’t just float there like some cursed jellyfish, say something!”

“...We’ve already passed the threshold,” the old man finally muttered. “I don't know, dying again doesn't sound bad"

“Seriously, you’re supposed to be the comforting mentor figure right now!” Klein snapped, voice cracking slightly.

“You’re giving me monologues of ancient terror instead!”

The figure laughed dryly. “Can’t help it. My dramatic side’s kicking in.”

Klein clenched his fists under the water, kicking a few times in place.

“Why the hell is there a damn crater at the bottom of a lake? Why’s the water pitch black inside it? Why’s my life like this?” He kept muttering, cursing under his breath.

“I could’ve been born a baker, or a merchant, or a third-rate farmer. But no, let’s go into a dungeon nightmare with ancient water pits that scream ‘death trap.’”

“You done yet?”

Klein didn’t answer. He just floated there for a moment, staring into the abyss, teeth clenched.

Then, he took a deep breath.

He adjusted his sleeves, tightened the film around his body, and kicked once toward the hole.

“This is stupid.”

Another kick.

“This is so, so stupid.”

And with one last push, he propelled himself into the dark pit, eyes narrowed with grim determination.

“Gods damn everything!”

The illusory figure followed after, arms still crossed, but his face was serious now.

“Welcome to the deep end, brat.”